Thursday, October 14, 2010

132 5. Issey Miyake: Origami Fashion

Japanese fashion innovator Issey Miyake and his R&D design group, the Reality Lab, have created a line of eco-conscious "origami clothing" made from recycled PET fabric. Each garment is made from a single piece of fabric, which is folded flat into one of ten basic collapsible patterns. The sharp creases in the fabric are made flexible but permanent, so that as you open the garment a multifaceted 3D form emerges. This shape is made customizable by the wearer with strategically placed snaps and darts, and the addition of tubes used to create sleeves or pant legs.

The title [132 5.] explains the notion: one piece of fabric, a three-dimensional shape reduced to two, and the fifth dimension, which Miyake describes as the moment the garment is worn and comes to life “through the communication among people.” (In physics, the fifth dimension is a hypothetical extra dimension after the three spatial ones and the fourth, which is time. Some astrophysicists argue that the fifth dimension may be the universe that we live in.) ...

“These clothes are very light, like air, and are season-less,” Miyake says. “I hope people will keep them a long time, and not replace them every two months. That, for me, is the essence of sustainability.”

This construction is made possible by a 3D computer modeling program (presumably ORIPA — an editor for designing crease patterns in Origami works — available free, here) designed by artist and computer scientist Jun Mitani. I highly recommend checking out Mitani's work in spherical origami. [via Dezeen, more at the Design Observer]